Bobbsy

Trouble is, society's priorities and pay are completely messed up. Nurses are essential to our health yet are paid a pittance while bankers get salaries and bonuses that could practically fund a hospital for contributing nothing...absolutely nothing...to society. Simply moving money around for profit should NOT be rewarded as it is. Tax the hell out of merchant banks and use the money to pay for a proper health service.

...that's the rest of you...except for MPs of course. And don't forget that it was MPs who overspent during times of plenty, MPs who spent money bailing out bankers so they could pay themselves bonuses, MPs who often get board positions with big business when they cease being MPs...and MPs who are now addicted to "austerity" which is killing the economy. Too bad MPs aren't paid by results, isn't it?

One thing to mention is that the medical is only valid for a finite time and that this will determine how long you have to move (or at least validate) after the visa is granted. For this reason, it's worth leaving the medicals until they're actually required. I hesitate to go into details of how to do the police check and medicals because I went through it all quite a few years back (so things might have changed). However, neither was particularly difficult. Australia House (or now online) provided us with a list of approved doctors for the medical so it was just a matter of getting and appointment with the closest one. As for the police check, I went to the local police station and they provided details of how to apply--I had the impression they were used to such queries because they had a photocopied handout with the details I needed. By all means consider a migration agent if your application is a tricky one--but the police checks and medicals are the easy bits!

It IS interesting... ...interesting that, if you view the history of the Wiki article you quote, numerous detailed criticisms of the UK Sky news have been removed by anonymous editors and replaced by the "clean bill of health" quote as seen above. Not that I'd ever accuse News International of whitewashing a Wiki article, but...

It sounds like a good idea at first but there are a couple of things you have to be careful of. First, if the "free workers" in any way displace people who would normally be paid for the same task then this will make the problem worse, not better. If they're cutting grass in parks, what about the council gardeners who would normally be paid for the same job (and likely more than benefits provide). Similarly, all too often work experience with commercial companies doesn't provide proper training and experience--it simply lets the company use a low paid or unpaid worker where previously they would have had somebody on staff. Second, care needs to be taken that people aren't forced into "make work" projects rather than being give training and incentives to get a real, productive job that pays better and contributes more to society.

By all means ring the police just in case but, in my experience, the others are correct. An accident on private property is a civil matter that the police won't get involved in. I wouldn't mess around with quotes etc. Since you have the registration number and a witness, pass that to your insurance company. They'll arrange to get your car fixed and they'll probably go after the guy who hit you to reclaim the money they pay you. It's their job and they have more resources than you.

Believe as you wish. However, the two people I mentioned both lasted 10+ years at the company where I worked, only a year or so at Sky complaining that senior management was dictating an editorial stance, then, again 10+ years at Al Jazeera and the BBC respectively. My Al Jazeera mate left because he wanted to move back to the UK for family reasons; the BBC guy worked there until retirement. The point I'm making is that they're not complainers who leave companies all the time--the only issues they ever had were at Sky. As for the bias on Sky, you have to watch carefully. As much fun as it was to post that front page from the Telegraph, most Murdoch bias is far more insidious and subtle--but it's there. It's usually things like a simple choice of words...maybe referring to the "Australian debt problem" rather than simply "the Australian debt". If you say something often enough, people start to take it for granted. Look, enjoy whatever news you want and have whatever political beliefs you want. However, don't fool yourself that the Murdoch media empire isn't promoting a political agenda.

No, you can't trust Sky news. Two of my best friends worked there previously, one as Foreign Editor and the other as Duty Foreign Editor on shifts. Both ended up leaving due to what they considered unacceptable editorial pressure from above. One went to Al Jazeera where, surprisingly, he assures me there's no editorial pressure from management. The other went to BBC Breakfast as Foreign Editor until he retired. Again. he was happy that there was no pressure from above at the BBC on editorial policy.

Sorry to let facts get in the way of a good argument but the Libs didn't leave the ALP any money. When the ALP took over government in 2007 the Australian debt to GDP ratio was 9.7%. After six years of ALP government that figure was 22.9%, pretty much the envy of the world after the GFC. As for the projects that were funded, they kept Australia out of recession so that can't all have been wrong. Keeping people working? The unemployment rate as barely moved since 2007 (from a low starting figure) and, again, is the envy of the world when you consider places like Spain with general unemployment of 12.1% (and youth unemployment over 50%). By all means dislike the ALP or Gillard or Rudd but don't make up crises and problems that don't exist--and don't trust Murdoch or the LNP when they lie to you about it.

Yeah. The ALP was so "incompetent" that it made Australia the only developed country in the world not to dip into recession during and after the global financial crisis. It managed to do this while keeping our national debt to a level of about 1/3 that of the UK and 1/2 that of the USA. Your assertion that Murdoch's media is not biased to be pro LNP simply doesn't acknowledge the facts. How 'bout this little classic: However, far more insidious were the endless references in the "quality" Murdoch press to things like a budget crisis or "huge" borrowing and so on. Say something often enough and people start to believe it even if untrue. Finally, my big objection to the asylum seeker policy of both parties is putting human beings in concentration camps. Frankly, that makes us as a nation guilty of crimes against humanity and makes me ashamed to live in a country that thinks such actions are acceptable. There are ways and means of processing refugees without resorting to nazi-style tactics...and the only asylum seeksers I know are hard working folk, many of whom have set up their own small businesses. The best fish and chip shop in Brisbane is run by an asylum seeker named Dang.

It's neither lazy media or an "inability". It's a very deliberate and self serving editorial policy by Rupert Murdoch who owns more than half the media in this country (by circulation and viewers).

I've been saying this all along. Australia has the healthiest economy in the developed world yet the LNP conned the voters into thinking there's some kind of crisis going on. Australia needs high speed broadband if it's to compete in the future and the NBN scheme was cost effective and in pretty good shape both financially and in terms of schedule yet the LNP made people believe it's seriously over budget and delayed. Australia has international commitments to look after asylum seekers yet the LNP (and, in this case Labor as well) wants to lock the unfortunate of the world up in concentration camps. How does this all happen? Does the name "Murdoch" ring a bell?

Hmmm...Garmin maps must be expensive. I've got Australia, UK, Western Canada and Western USA on my Tom Tom and the 3 extra countries were still a lot cheaper than buying a new satnav. Still, in these days of free maps on a phone I wonder how long specialist units can keep going.

Yup. I all depends on where you move and what your skills are. Statistically, the job market is better in Aus than the UK--but statistics don't reflect individual circumstances, just the broad picture.

Drinking culture is too wide an expression. I doubt many people have any trouble at all with people going to their local for a pint or three and some pleasant chat with friends. However, even I have a big problem with a town centre filled with drunken yobs fighting, vomiting and yelling racist chants at anyone passing which, at least in Leighton Buzzard, was the norm most nights. That's not exactly the most attractive feature of Britain. (And it's not to say that Aus cities don't have exactly the same problem.)

No, at least not here in Queensland. I have both my licences still (though the UK one expires soon). I guess there could be state to state differences but I haven't heard of any that take your UK licence away.

For anyone who doubted those of us who said Rupert Murdoch supported Abbott and opposed the NBN because he didn't want competition, have a look at THIS ARTICLE. Murdoch has already announced a new subscription-based system that would have been made redundant by a full-featured NBN.

This thread, yet again, shows the danger of generalisations. Australia is a big country with lots of different areas of professional specialisation and industries. There are also regional differences in terms of supply and demand. Just as an example, my stepson in Brisbane specialises in spray painting cars. His skills are in such short supply that he's been "head hunted" 3 times in the last two years. I'm sure there are other jobs in Brisbane where the demand is at that level--but I'm equally sure that there are also jobs that are over subscribed where there are few if any vacancies. Factor in the size of Aus and the differences among the various cities and it's simply not accurate to say something like "there are no jobs in Australia". There are plenty--but perhaps not in the OP's area of speciality in Brisbane. One final more personal comment: the OP mentions that he's a "senior manger" who worked on the Olympics. Having been a senior manager myself (before my retirement my job title was Vice President Technical Operations and Engineering) I'd suggest that, at this level, jobs are something you need to arrange before moving. Senior positions tend to be head-hunted or filled by promotion from within. Even back in London, I'd have been wary of quitting and trying to find another job at the same level unless I already had something set up. Add in a move to a country where you have no track record and you'd have to be very lucky to find a senior position quickly.

Exactly. Before retirement I worked in an industry where freelancing was very common--but most of the freelancers we used worked lots of other places and it was always a ring round to find people free on the day we needed them. Being locked into being on call for a single employer but with no guarantee of ANY income is very different indeed.

I've seen most of the major ones but I'm another one who's somehow managed to miss Liverpool. I really need to see the Cavern Club and then take a ferry across the Mersey!

I wouldn't want to meet an M1A1 if the driver had had too much to drink....

You forgot "self publicist".

For those who believe this rubbish, can I interest you in a very nice bridge across Sydney harbour? It's a real classic with only one careful owner....

Let's see some common sense. Diana and Dodi's car was being pursued by a mob of papparazi on motor bikes. If somebody shone a light into the driver's face, how come not one of them photographed it or at least saw it happen? And...as an assassination method it was pretty rubbish. The accident was entirely survivable if Dodi and Diana had put on their seatbelts...so how was it known in advance that they wouldn't belt in? Most conspiracy theories have so many holes in them you could use them as a colander. I wonder how much "Soldier N" ripped off a paper for his exclusive?

I gave mine the quickest of wipes just to remove any obvious sawdust and they all came through the inspection fine. I know they checked the stuff pretty carefully because they found one wooden Christmas decoration I'd forgotten was even in the box. Suggestion...if you can manage it, bring a very small, basic set of tools with you on the plane--I had a screwdriver with interchangeable heads, a pair of pliers and and adjustable spanner. It was really useful to have these while waiting for our main shipment--installing child car seats, building flat pack furniture, hooking up a dishwasher, changing electrical plugs, that sort of thing.